MANNING — A newly opened man camp stakes out the southern Bakken shale territory for a temporary hous- ing provider. The company held a party March 8 to celebrate. The Target Logistics camp is south of

Manning and just north of Dickinson, the largest such facility in that reach of the Bakken. It’s adding on at the same time it’s fi lling up. The company invited state and local

offi cials and planned to serve appetizers like crab-stuffed mushrooms and a ten- derloin dinner to 100 guests and to the workers who come in after a long day in the oil patch.

The Dunn County Lodge has 400 beds and more are still being trucked into the busy site to be connected like gi- ant LEGOS to the existing modules. It is the company’s eighth project in

just two years in the oil patch. And be- tween man camp-style housing in the Bakken and down in Texas, it’s now the largest company of its kind in the coun- try, said Scott Junk, a marketing vice president. The project originally was intended

for a site on the northwest side of Dick- inson, but residents protested the loca- tion as being too near city limits. Target now has 3,700 beds for work- ers in facilities at Stanley, Tioga and Wil- liston as well as Dunn County, which is permitted for up to 600 beds. Junk said the facilities are at 95 percent

occupancy and the rooms are rented on contract to companies for three years, in some cases. Walk-ins are not welcome. Junk said he cannot disclose which

companies lease rooms for workers. But “large anchor tenants” are familiar names throughout the oil patch. Stan Katz, who heads up construc- tion, said he managed to put the Dunn Coun- ty camp together in 78 days, plus 10 for inte- rior work, a schedule that is usually met only in summer months. This year,

Katz

snow gods loved me,” Katz said.

“The

ing and required a 35-foot cut off the back end. The facility still has an 8-foot elevation difference from front to back, barely noticeable along the long, center hallway. Like its other facilities, the Dunn

Hua

County Lodge is designed with a front entry and a master hallway leading to lockers, lounges and dining before open- ing off to smaller hallways with small private rooms and bathrooms. Jing Hua of China, a fi eld engineer, was one of the few female workers stay- ing at the facility last week. Her oil services company, Schlumberg- er, brought a crew down for a fracture treatment project. Hua said she would be at the camp for about 10 days. Normally she is in an apartment in Wil- liston when she’s not on the road.

perience, but said it’s odd to be around so many men all the time at the camp, though that’s standard in the oil fi eld. She prefers staying in motels and making her own food choices, rather than eating the dining room fare, she

She said she’s never had a bad ex-

The rolling site itself was challeng- LAUREN DONOVAN/Tribune

TOP: Extensions with bedrooms and bathrooms are part of a typical layout for Target Logistics man camps in the North Dakota oil patch. Pictured is part of the Dunn County Lodge, just north of Dickinson, which has 400 beds.

LEFT: Mike Sammarcino of Billings, Mont., prepares 200 crab-stuffed mushrooms for a party to celebrate the newly opened man camp.

said. Lunch for her March 8 was two hot dogs, no buns, and a salad. Her co-worker, Kevin Chidester of

Idaho, said he lives in a man camp for two weeks and is home one week. He said his company pays his living expens- es at the camp, but he’d be on his own to pay for an apartment. “You gotta live somewhere,” he said.

Williams and Mountrail counties have stunted the growth of temporary hous-

mits, this could be as big as the Tioga camp (of 1,100 beds),” he said. Some housing operators applied for

ing, Junk said. “If we could attain per-

permits they haven’t used to lock out other operators, Junk said. As a token of its local appreciation,